Transport Insights

The Department for Transport’s (DfT) claim that tap-in, tap-out payment for trains has been “expanded across south-east England” has to be one of the most misleading press releases I have seen for a long time.

It’s misleading not only because it’s by no means the universal coverage that the word “across” implies but because the programme is nowhere near the coverage that should have been achieved by the end of last year.

The good news is that the addition of the 50 new stations to the Transport for London (TfL) system in four weeks’ time, including Stansted and Southend airports, means that passengers travelling to every London airport will be able to use contactless ticketing – assuming that they could tap in when then started their journeys.

But, as I have reported extensively, this is part of a programme of 233 stations that TfL is delivering for the DfT – effectively extending the Oyster network – that was originally due to be completed by the end of 2024.

It’s the first instalment on the “main phase” of 180 stations, with the “initial phase” of 53 stations being completed earlier this year, nearly two years late.

Of course the DfT didn’t say any of this, or when the programme would be complete.

It did make the misleading statement that:

The expansion of tap-in tap-out builds on the introduction of other innovative ticketing technologies, like the digital ticketing trials

The roll-out of tap-in tap out was set in train long before the other ticketing initiatives began so cannot be said to build on them.

The DfT also linked the news to the (also delayed) creation of Great British Railways (GBR):

Contactless technology will become commonplace under GBR, which, once established, will build on the expansion of existing successful pay-as-you-go and fares trials.   

“Commonplace” shows a decided lack of ambition, but given that I have been writing for nearly 10 years about the ongoing failure to introduce what used to be called “smart ticketing”, maybe this is, for once, avoiding over-promising and under-delivering.

I have asked TfL what the current target date is for completion of the full programme.